


Damned

by Melime



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-01-12 23:50:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18457157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime
Summary: Gotham belonged to the damned.





	Damned

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Português brasileiro available: [Condenados](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18457166) by [Melime GreenLeaf (Melime)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime%20GreenLeaf)



> [Femslash February Prompt List](http://mintyquartz.tumblr.com/post/138255227356/femslash-february-prompt-list), day 17 - damned.

Gotham belonged to the damned.

It had always been like this.

There was no place in that city for justice, and no place for those that tried to obtain it.

Only the damned could survive, the damaged that were chewed down and spat out but still insisted on surviving, still insisted on carrying on.

No one could stay in there long without being damaged, it was just a matter of taking the damage and keeping your head up.

There was no place for justice in Gotham, no place for people who waited for what they were owed.

Gotham belonged to those that had the guts to take what they wanted.

Barbara wasn't prepared for that, not at first.

She believed in what her parents demanded of her, and she tried to be good.

She tried so hard to be good.

But the cruelty of Gotham still came for her, like it did to all that remained there for too long.

Gotham was strange in that way, it was home but it was not welcoming, and it demanded a high price of those who wished to stay.

Barbara tried to be good, and for that she was broken until she forgot who she was, until all that existed in her mind was the obsession for a man, as if he could give her back the normalcy she so craved.

If not for Tabitha, maybe this would be all that she would have, for the rest of her life.

Tabitha was damaged too, albeit in a different way. She was damaged, but she refused to let that get to her. She let all the pain and all the trauma pass her by, and she just enjoyed the ride.

She tried to teach Barbara how to do that, and Barbara tried to learn, even if at times it was so hard not to get caught up in big plans and wants.

Because that was the thing about Gotham, it was always shifting.

There was no use in making lasting plans, no use in trying to get something and keep it.

Power flowed through the city, and even the old families couldn't keep it forever. Gotham wasn't something that could easily be controlled.

And the crown of Gotham was nothing if not a sign for the executioner.

And still Barbara wanted power.

And still she wanted to take everything and keep it.

Tabitha knew better, she knew that nothing could be kept for long.

She had seen it in her family, the way that they fought so hard to get back to power, only to lose it all over again.

Things were never so simple in Gotham, plans were of no use, because things didn't work there as they did everywhere else.

Tabitha knew that no plan was perfect, and nothing could last forever.

Barbara had to keep being taught that lesson, no matter how many times she got hurt, how many times her plans were destroyed.

She had to keep being taught that.

And Tabitha tried to remind her of that. She tried not to get tired of Barbara's constant schemes. She tried to help.

Even if sometimes it was too much for her. Even if sometimes she got tired of all of this.

And then Barbara had to be the one to run after her, she had to apologize and recognize that Tabitha had been right all along.

More often than not, Tabitha was right.

But perhaps one day Barbara would learn.

Perhaps one day she could stop chasing power and status, stop looking for something to fill all the cracks in her soul.

She just hoped that she could do that before she lost Tabitha forever.


End file.
